HEADLINE: Deleted by Code? Investigation Reveals ECI Software Flagged 3.66 Crore Voters as ‘Suspects’
New Delhi: An investigative report by The Reporters’ Collective has shed light on the mechanism behind the massive voter deletions seen in states like UP and MP. The report reveals that the Election Commission employed a software algorithm to identify “clusters” of suspicious voters, flagging a total of 3.66 Crore individuals across India.
The ‘Digital’ Purge:
The investigation suggests that lists generated by this algorithm were handed down to Booth Level Officers (BLOs) with strict targets for verification. In the rush to clear these “software-flagged” suspects, there are fears that proper door-to-door verification protocols may have been bypassed, leading to the wrongful deletion of genuine voters.
This revelation connects the dots between the recent suicide of a BLO in Sitapur due to “work pressure” and the staggering deletion numbers released in UP today. It raises a fundamental question: Is an algorithm deciding who gets to vote in the world’s largest democracy?
